Thoughts on USB-C

January 24, 2019

Since the moment I first heard about it I’ve really liked USB-C from both a theoretical and philosophical standpoint, but over the past month being away from home I’ve come to appreciate it on a whole new, visceral level. Naturally, part of my newfound appreciation stems from having new devices that actually use USB-C. I know it seems like such a miniscule and unimportant thing, but the way it has improved my day-to-day life shouldn’t be understated, especially as of late with a broken ankle.

While laying in my bed, particularly during the most challenging parts of this medical ordeal, I found it difficult to get up and dig around in my backpack for dongles and cords. I have a nice USB-C charger plugged into the wall outlet beside my bed and a fairly lengthy cable attached to it, so being able to use it to charge not only my cell phone but my Nintendo Switch was lovely. And it really made me realize how badly I’d love for my laptop to charge over USB-C. There was one time when the battery on it died and I had to ask someone to grab the one compatible (and proprietary) charger from under my desk, bring it to me, and plug it in. If my laptop supported it, I could leave a charger pretty much everywhere I go, and carry just one single cable around with me. That would be pretty great! I’m going to make an effort to move to a laptop that charges using USB-C this year. I’d also like to buy an ereader (most likely a Kobo) that uses it - then nearly every electronic device in my life would be interchangable and simple.

In terms of design, I have to be honest and say that I don’t really like the shape or fit of USB-C as much as the lightning cables I’m used to with my Apple devices. Maybe it’s just me, but it feels less sturdy when inserted into the device (the connector itself always feels slightly… wigglier). That said, I’d gladly take the compromise if we could live in a world where everything just used USB-C. I’m happy to see it finally getting widely adopted, and I think in 2019 pretty much all devices will have it as the primary connector. Long live really nice open hardware standards.